Sentinel physician's network in Reunion Island: a tool for infectious diseases surveillance.

Unlabelled: The surveillance of infectious diseases in Reunion Island is based on a sentinel network of family physicians (FPs) coordinated by the Indian Ocean regional institute for public health surveillance (French acronym OI Cire). The objectives are to identify and monitor outbreaks of influenza, gastroenteritis, and chicken pox, and to characterize circulating influenza viruses. The network can monitor other potentially epidemic diseases.

[Using French national health insurance data for non-specific monitoring on Reunion Island].

Background: In Reunion Island, non-specific surveillance developed mainly in 2009 and was based on the activity of hospital emergency department, emergency calls and mortality. From March 2010, a new surveillance was implemented in collaboration between the Indian Ocean regional epidemiology unit and the regional office of the National Health Insurance. The system is based on the weekly number of general practitioner consultations and home visits by municipality.